14 Miscellaneous Circular 71, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 



which extends outside the forests, comes from the national forests. 

 These figures show that the utilization of the local forest timber for 

 lumber is extremely small. If the timber is there, why is it not more 

 widely used? The answer is that it doesn't pay at the present time 

 to log local timber. 



In the first place, the best timber is the least accessible. Figure 8 

 shows what great amounts of timber are centered on those forests 

 lying either in the Uinta Mountains or in the extreme 

 The Best Bod- southern part of the State. Most of those regions 

 ies of Utah Tim- are f ar f rom railroads, have inadequate transporta- 

 from the General ^ on facilities, and are far from markets. In the re- 

 Market, maining forests the best timber is located in relatively 

 inaccessible pockets, for the adjacent valleys were 

 settled early and the mountains close at hand were combed for 

 their timber supplies many years before the railroads brought in 

 material from the Northwest. 



Another reason why only scant use is made of local timber resources 

 is the fact that the products of northwestern operators now dominate 

 the Utah field through the advantage of large-scale 

 The Efficiency production and the wide variety of uniformly manu- 

 of Big Operations f ac tured products, such as flooring, ceiling, lath, and 

 C o^m p e t i Hon finish of all kinds. The small local millman, able to 

 Difficult. produce only rough or, at best, simply surfaced lum- 



ber, is therefore under a big handicap in competing in 

 the general market. In most cases the only territory left him is the 

 scattered settlements far from railroads. 



A third reason why it does not pay to produce local timber is that 

 it is of somewhat poorer quality than the people in this region have 

 become accustomed to using. In the Northwest tim- 

 Utah Timber b er grows under the most favorable conditions and is 

 Oualitv^han that straight grained, clear, and easily worked. The Utah 

 in the Northwest, timber yields smaller quantities of high-grade mate- 

 rial, more boards of narrow width, and more knotty 

 timber, and accordingly has a lower value. These three facts — 

 high producing cost, strong, organized competition, and somewhat 

 inferior quality — explain the small utlization of the native timber. 

 Of the three, the third is of quite subordinate importance, and the 

 first two arc likely to become less and less important as time goes on. 



PROVISION FOR THE FUTURE 



A national timber shortage is inevitable. It is being felt in the 

 East at the present time, and the Nation is looking to the Pacific 



Coast and Northwestern States for much of its timber 



Developments supply. Under these circumstances prices are bound 



rj se# ■ to rise, the best of the timber will become exhausted, 



and as this process goes on it will be found that local 

 Utah timber can work into the market more and more. An 

 expansion of the lumber industry in Utah can therefore be expected, 

 especially as normal expansion brings railroads and better transpor- 

 tation closer to the main bodies of timber. 



